January 2009

At the Royal Lakeside Novotel (11 Tutanekai St., Box 348, Rotorua 3010, NEW ZEALAND; phone +64 7 346 3888, fax 347 1888, www.novotel

My friend Susan Carrasco and I spent two weeks on Palawan Island in the Philippines in April ’08. We stayed in the lovely, new Balay Inato Pension (294 Manalo St., Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines 5300; phone 048 433 8595, mobile 0926 617 2007 or e-mail balayinato_pension@yahoo.com.ph), which is in a safe location not far from the airport. Free airport transfers are offered and there’s parking on site.

Hotel Aberdeen (Via Firenze 48, 00184 Rome, ITALY; phone +39 06 4823920, fax 21092, www.travel.it/roma/aberdeen) is a 10-minute walk from Rome’s Termini train station; you can avoid crossing several busy, wide streets by taking the metro to the Repubblica stop.

The hotel is on a relatively quiet street just off of the busy Via Nazionale with its convenient bus stops. The lobby is up a flight of stairs from the main entrance of a large, elegant structure that was once a palace.

My wife and I spent three glorious days in Velden-Auen, Austria, June 29-July 2, 2008. We stayed at the Flair-Hotel (Süduferstrasse/Quellenweg 97, A-9220 Velden-Auen, Austria; phone +43 [0] 42 74 25 34 0,

www.flairhotel.com), a 5-minute drive from the center of Velden. The hotel is right on the lake and has an indoor heated pool.

We paid €118 (about $180 in June ’08) for two people for a spacious room with a balcony facing the lake. The included breakfast was a full buffet.

I led a group of college students on a trip to GERMANY in May ’08. Here is a review of our hotels.

Many travelers book hotel rooms in advance for the first and last nights of their trips but wing it for all the nights in between. Some just start out cold, blowing with the wind. We asked you independent travelers to tell us how you go about finding nonreserved rooms in places you’ve never been to overseas and to answer the following questions.

by Sandra Scott, Mexico, NY

I love serving my dinner guests Phad Thai and hearing them ask, “Where did you learn to make Phad Thai?”

I enjoy their surprised looks when I reply, “At the Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok.”

For a year, from July ’86 to June ’87, we lived in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state in Malaysia. The town is about 25 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, which is only a few degrees north of the equator.

I have several orthopedic problems and use a rolling walker to assist with ambulation. I have difficulty walking long distances; my walker has a seat that I can use, if needed.

My husband, Jerry, wanted a beach vacation — somewhere warm in the middle of the winter. I love to sit and read on the beach. . . but not for a whole 10-day vacation. The solution? A beach resort from which we could take day trips to see new things.